Imphal, July 23: Manipur University has earned another major international academic distinction with Prof. Maibam Bidyananda of the Department of Earth Sciences being selected for the prestigious Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship 2026-2027.
According to the official award letter issued by the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) on July 9, 2026, Prof. Bidyananda will undertake an eight-month research programme at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, beginning on October 26, 2026. The fellowship, regarded as one of the most prestigious academic exchange programmes between India and the United States, will support collaborative research and strengthen international scientific cooperation.
Prof. Maibam Bidyananda’s selection reflects not only his academic excellence but also his sustained record of securing competitive research grants. Over the past two decades, he has successfully led several major projects funded by national agencies, contributing significantly to geological research in Northeast India.
His major sponsored projects include a Department of Science and Technology (DST) study (2005-2008) on the petrology, geochemistry and zircon geochronology of the Shillong Massif, followed by another DST-funded project (2012-2016) examining the geochemical and petrogenetic significance of mafic rocks in the Precambrian terrains of Meghalaya and Assam. He also headed a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) project (2013-2016) on the ultramafic rocks of the Indo-Myanmar Ophiolite Belt, providing valuable insights into tectonic evolution, oceanic crust fragments and geological linkages between Northeast India and Southeast Asia.
In 2018, he secured another major six-year research project on the geochemistry, zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf-isotopic studies of Precambrian rocks of the Arunachal Himalayas, further advancing understanding of the region’s ancient crustal evolution.
Prof. Maibam Bidyananda earned his Ph.D. in Mineralogy from Jadavpur University in 2001 and has since held prestigious research fellowships and visiting appointments at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, the University of Mainz and the University of Bonn in Germany, and Macquarie University, Australia.
A prolific Earth scientist, he has published extensively on Himalayan crustal evolution, the Manipur and Naga Ophiolites, and the geology of Northeast India in leading international journals. He has also served Manipur University in several key academic and administrative positions, including Head of the Department of Earth Sciences and Proctor.
His selection for the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship marks another milestone in his distinguished academic career while bringing further international recognition to Manipur University’s growing contributions to advanced Earth Sciences research.
